J. Memmott, N. M. Waser, M. V. Price, Tolerance of pollination networks to species extinctions. Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. B 271, 2605–2611 (2004). doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2909pmid:15615687
By simulating the network patterns between plants and pollinators, the authors demonstrated that plants were more resistant to extinction with the removal of specialized pollinators versus generalized pollinators. Specialized pollinators only interact with a few plant species, whereas generalized pollinators interact with a larger range of plant species. When a generalized pollinator is lost, more plants are affected.